According to the Foreign Agricultural Service (“FAS”) of the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”), approximately 2.5 million cattle were imported into the United States in calendar year 2002. Of these 2.5 million cattle, approximately 1.02 million (or roughly 40.8 percent) were imported for “direct slaughter”. See “Country of Origin Labeling: A Legal and Economic Analysis”, J. VanSickle et al., PBTC 03-5, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (May 2003), p. 10, citing statistics from the USDA's FAS Web site.
That is, these 1.02 million cattle were imported into the U.S. for delivery to slaughterhouses or meat packing plants (hereinafter, “packers”), where they were to be slaughtered prior to undergoing various forms of processing. The remaining 1.48 million cattle imports were destined for farms, feedlots, and so forth, and therefore many of these imported cattle will also eventually reach the packers after spending additional time in the United States (e.g., to be fattened in a feedlot).
Some of the meat derived from cattle imported into the U.S. for processing is subsequently exported for sale, and some remains in the U.S., where it is sold to various purchasers (including retail outlets which sell meat products for purchase by consumers).
A large number of cattle are also exported from the U.S. every year. In some cases, these cattle are slaughtered after export and the resulting carcasses are imported back into the U.S. for processing such as cutting and packaging. In addition, carcasses from cattle slaughtered in the U.S. may be exported to other countries for processing, after which the processed meat may be imported into the U.S. for sale.
In today's global economy, this shipping of live animals and of meat from one country to another is increasingly common. It is also common for meat products to be sold which are mixtures of ingredients from more than one country. Ground beef sold in American supermarkets, for example, often contains a mixture of imported and domestic beef and beef trimmings.
A large number of consumers may be unaware that the meat they purchase at their local supermarket is of foreign origin or has undergone foreign processing. Recent media coverage of health issues such as genetically-altered animals and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (commonly referred to as “mad cow disease”) has increased consumers' concerns about the origin of their meat.
Legislation has recently been passed in the U.S. that will require specified “covered commodities” to include country-of-origin labeling by Sep. 30, 2004. See Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (commonly referred to as the “2002 Farm Act” or “2002 Farm Bill”), Public Law 107-171 (7 U.S.C. 1638-1638d), subtitle D, “Country of Origin Labeling”. Covered commodity, as defined therein, includes “muscle cuts of beef, lamb, and pork” as well as “ground beef, ground lamb, and ground pork”. Id., §281 (2)(A). (Other covered commodities include fish, peanuts, and perishable agricultural commodities.)
This legislation states that retailers shall inform consumers of the country of origin of covered commodities. Id., §282 (a)(1). A label, stamp, mark, placard, or other clear and visible sign must be used for this purpose. Id., §282 (c). For beef, lamb, and pork, a covered commodity may be designated as having a U.S. country of origin only if it is exclusively from an animal that was born, raised, and slaughtered in the United States (with a narrowly-written caveat pertaining to the transportation of cattle). Id., §282 (a)(2)(A)-(C).
Furthermore, this legislation states that the Secretary of Agriculture may require a verifiable recordkeeping audit trail, with which compliance can be verified, and that suppliers of covered commodities shall provide information to retailers indicating the country of origin of a covered commodity. Id., §282 (d), (e). However, a mandatory identification system shall not be used by the Secretary of Agriculture. Id., §282 (f)(1).
Voluntary interim guidelines for country of origin labeling have been developed, and apply until regulations for a mandatory procedure are finalized. These voluntary guidelines are published in the Federal Register at Vol. 67, No. 198, pp. 63367-63375 (Oct. 11, 2002), titled “Establishment of Guidelines for the Interim Voluntary Country of Origin Labeling of Beef, Lamb, Pork, Fish, Perishable Agricultural Commodities, and Peanuts Under the Authority of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946” (hereinafter, “the Voluntary Guidelines”). The Voluntary Guidelines state that “suppliers throughout the production/marketing chain have a responsibility to maintain the necessary supporting records” for country of origin claims, and that self-certification is insufficient. Id., p. 63374, §3, “Recordkeeping”, subsections (B), (C).
Accordingly, techniques are needed that enable compliance with this legislation, and more particularly, with the country of origin labeling and verification mandates described therein.